After the mutiny on the HMS Bounty in 1789, led by Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, Captain William Bligh and his crew were cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean and left for dead.

The captain finally led his crew to safety across 4,000 miles of ocean from Tonga to Timor.

The saga has been the subject of numerous dramatic adaptations, with Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson playing Christian. The 1984 telling also starred Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis and Laurence Olivier.

Charles Laughton made the role of Captain Bligh his own in the 1935 film version.

The new factual series will see nine men set out on the same journey in a replica boat, with similar equipment and the same rations of food and water that Bligh's men had.

They will use the 225-year-old diary kept by Bligh during the voyage as a survival handbook in unpredictable and often brutal environments.

They will face sudden storms, treacherous reefs and the challenge of landing on isolated tropical islands to hunt for vital supplies, as Bligh's men did.

Middleton will assume the role of Captain Bligh and will lead the crew of sailors and complete novices.

The ship's carpenter is an odd job man and the ship's surgeon is a GP.

"It's not only an intense survival challenge in its own right, with jaw-drop locations and stunning visuals - i t's also an exciting new way of getting under the skin of one of history's great adventure stories in a way that feels genuinely distinctive."